It is well known that a conventional image forming apparatus including an electrophotographic copier, printer, facsimile machine, multi-functional machine and so forth has a technique that can position an image bearing member supporting member.
In the image forming apparatus having the above-described technique, it is necessary to properly position and mount the image bearing member with respect to a main body of the image forming apparatus to form a high quality image on an image bearing member.
Therefore, a conventional image forming apparatus has a structure, for example as disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Publication No. 2004-233902, that includes a positioning member that is positioned and mounted to a mounting position with respect to a frame of the main body of the image forming apparatus. When the positioning member is mounted on the mounting position, an image bearing member supporting member is fitted into the mounting hole formed on the positioning member to position the image bearing member supporting member. Thereby, the image bearing member can be properly positioned on the main body of the image forming apparatus.
In this case, however, the amount of rotation speed deviation element drive gear during maintenance and/or replacement of the photoconductive element. The mounting hole is used as a tooling hole or a fitting portion for the image bearing member supporting member.
In the above-described conventional image forming apparatus, however, the image bearing member supporting member is fitted into the mounting hole of the positioning member to position the image bearing member supporting member with respect to the positioning member. That is, the mounting hole does not have a great amount of play, which makes it difficult to fit the image bearing member supporting member into the mounting hole, and the image forming apparatus has a disadvantage in the operability of positioning the image bearing member supporting member.